1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the invention generally relate to a tool used in a subsea environment to help prevent the release of hydrocarbons into a body of water. More particularly, the invention relates to a tool that is connected to a remotely operated underwater vehicle (“ROV”), which provides a high flow rate of fluid at a high pressure to a blowout preventer (“BOP”) to manually actuate the BOP.
2. Description of the Related Art
A blowout preventer (“BOP”) is a large piece of specialized oilfield equipment that is used to seal, control and monitor oil and gas wells. In a subsea environment, the BOP is attached to the top of the wellhead at the bottom of the ocean. The BOP then connects to an offshore rig through a drilling riser. Drill strings are lowered inside the drilling riser and through the BOP and rotated by equipment on the offshore rig to turn a drill bit and drill an oil and/or gas well.
As an oil and gas well is being drilled, the well can receive what is called a formation kick, which is a burst of high pressure that comes from the reservoir. These kicks can cause a variety of catastrophic events, such as drill pipe and casing being blown out of the wellbore, and, in severe cases, hydrocarbons being released into the ocean. The BOP is designed to prevent these catastrophic blow outs from occurring, or at the very least, to minimize their effects when they do occur.
Typically, when a kick occurs, the BOP is closed so that fluids do not flow out of the wellbore. More specifically, rams or shears in the BOP are closed which effectively close and seal the drilling riser, drill strings and associated piping that runs through the BOP. The BOP rams or shears are closed remotely, either by workers actuating the BOP from an offshore rig or by an automated actuation system.
When the BOP cannot be actuated remotely, there is a need for an apparatus, system and method of manually actuating a BOP at a rapid speed in the event the BOP cannot be remotely actuated.